Company Profile

COSI, Sri Lanka

Company Profile

Background

One person in five in the World today does not have access to safe drinking water, and one in two lacks access to adequate sanitation. The cost in human and economic terms is massive.

Not only do an estimated 5 million people – perhaps three quarters of them children under 5 – die annually from water-related diseases, but many times that number suffer from poverty, poor health and lack of dignity as a direct consequence. At any moment in time, 50% of all people in developing countries are suffering from one or more water-related disease. It is the poor and the vulnerable who are in greatest need, yet these are the people least able to help themselves.

The international community has attempted, for two and a half decades, to work towards universal access to adequate water and sanitation. However, population increase and environmental degradation are compounding the welfare problems already faced by many people, and the number of people affected is on the increase – in Sri Lanka and around the World.

The Way Forward

It is now recognised that the only way that real long-term improvements can be made on the scale required to the health, dignity and prosperity of village communities is to provide the training, structure and support necessary to harness the creative energies which already exist there. This way, communities are provided with a framework within which they can build the better future they aspire to. Partnerships must be formed for the long term – support and backup are essential if communities are to maintain and enhance their facilities.

Also, the economic benefits cannot be stated highly enough. The increased productivity and prosperity of communities with improved water and sanitation far outweighs the investment needed to provide these facilities.

COSI’s Role

Founded in late 1995 as a not-for-profit organization, COSI (Community Self Improvement) attempts to solve water, environmental sanitation and hygiene (WESH) problems across Sri Lanka. At COSI we believe that “universal access to potable water and basic sanitation” is fundamental and non-negotiable.

Lack of access to these basic amenities is a daily problem for many people in rural and urban communities. For us it represents an urgent need that cannot wait.

• COSI is committed to helping address this need by:
• Laying the foundations for sustainable community-based development through training and empowerment
• Facilitating a fundamental shift in the attitudes and expectations of local people through education
• Giving children a voice to influence their future – they have much to gain and much to offer
• Continuing to support communities through long-term relationships
• Forming partnerships with governments, NGOs, the private sector and donors to improve people’s livelihoods on a wider scale.